Are customer service reps. the same as IOs??

[Cerruti]

It’s my first time calling National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283 asking about the general questions and because the lady I talked to didn't have an access on my case, so I asked her to transfer me to an officer and she did. I only waited for a couple mins (I was prepared for 45 mins at least) to get through so I am not sure I was talking to an IO. For some reasons, I got an impression that she was a customer service reps. and not sure if it’s the same as an IO. I also could tell she got an accent, not American accent, but that's not important.

Anyway I said right off I want to know if my name check is still pending, and she said oh, I don’t know if I would be able to check on that but she said she will try. She asked for my last name, following by SRC no., A#, and date of birth. Waited for about 15 secs, she’s back and said it looks like my security/background check is done. So I asked if the security/background check is the same as name check because I asked for name check status, and she said yes.

Well, I thought security check/background check is different from name check??? Anyone can clarify that?

I then asked about visa number assignment and she got little annoyed by that, she said she didn’t know what I was talking about. She kept saying the officer will have to approval the case first and then you will a green card, that’s the exact words from her. I could tell she started getting grumpy and cranky, so I thought I would end the call before she goes ballistic.

So the questions:
Are customer service reps. the same as IOs?
Is security check the same as name check?

 

[GCLingum]

To answer your questions:

Short and sweet:
No.
Yes.

Long and hard:
But in case you are interested in a detailed answer. The 1-800 number you call connects you to a contracting company's call center. The employees there are not Feds (Federal Employees). Just like any other outsourced call center, they have headsets on their heads and computer screens in front. They have a scripted list of preliminary questions that they ask you and have a limited database to query in order to answers your questions. If they are new at this and fail to satisfy you with their scripted answers (as the experienced callers have found out), they transfer you to their supervisor. If the supervisor fails to answer your questions and they think your call warrants it they will transfer you to the USCIS service center where you case is currently being processed (or rather NOT being processed). These people being non-Fed, public sector, privately owned and hourly paid are generally courteous but lack access to useful information. On the other hand the service center people (IO's) are generally full time, salary paid, unionized, permanent Feds. They have more information, but are generally annoyed and tired of listening to the same questions, rants and raves from the callers and hence the answer you get from them depends on what kind of a day they are having. If you are lucky and you catch one of the better ones in a good mood, you will probably get some satisfactory answer. If not, you always call back again some other day and hope for the best.

On a personal note:Experienced callers have a way to bypass the first tier and go directly to the service center IO's with a method that I do not condone nor think appropriate, as it is not fair to use this method in order to jump ahead of the people already in queue, who do not know of it.

As for background check, name check, security check etc etc. These are all the same things. The two very different and distinct checks are namely the Finger print check and Name Check. People confuse these two all the time. Fingerprints are scanned and sent to FBI which then does a comparison of the prints with their database of prints automatically (like AFIX 5.0 you see on CSI:NY or CSI:Miami). The results are generally sent back to USCIS within 48 to 72 hours. On the other hand someone stuck in the dreaded Namecheck (or NC in immigrant speak) can be stuck well, for years on end (self is an example). The whole namecheck mess will need a few pages more to explain, but for now this should suffice.

You are one of the lucky ones if your NC is clear. Believe me, you don't want to go there.

 

[Cerruti]

To answer your questions:

Short and sweet:
No.
Yes.

Long and hard:
But in case you are interested in a detailed answer. The 1-800 number you call connects you to a contracting company's call center. The employees there are not Feds (Federal Employees). Just like any other outsourced call center, they have headsets on their heads and computer screens in front. They have a scripted list of preliminary questions that they ask you and have a limited database to query in order to answers your questions. If they are new at this and fail to satisfy you with their scripted answers (as the experienced callers have found out), they transfer you to their supervisor. If the supervisor fails to answer your questions and they think your call warrants it they will transfer you to the USCIS service center where you case is currently being processed (or rather NOT being processed). These people being non-Fed, public sector, privately owned and hourly paid are generally courteous but lack access to useful information. On the other hand the service center people (IO's) are generally full time, salary paid, unionized, permanent Feds. They have more information, but are generally annoyed and tired of listening to the same questions, rants and raves from the callers and hence the answer you get from them depends on what kind of a day they are having. If you are lucky and you catch one of the better ones in a good mood, you will probably get some satisfactory answer. If not, you always call back again some other day and hope for the best.

On a personal note:Experienced callers have a way to bypass the first tier and go directly to the service center IO's with a method that I do not condone nor think appropriate, as it is not fair to use this method in order to jump ahead of the people already in queue, who do not know of it.

As for background check, name check, security check etc etc. These are all the same things. The two very different and distinct checks are namely the Finger print check and Name Check. People confuse these two all the time. Fingerprints are scanned and sent to FBI which then does a comparison of the prints with their database of prints automatically (like AFIX 5.0 you see on CSI:NY or CSI:Miami). The results are generally sent back to USCIS within 48 to 72 hours. On the other hand someone stuck in the dreaded Namecheck (or NC in immigrant speak) can be stuck well, for years on end (self is an example). The whole namecheck mess will need a few pages more to explain, but for now this should suffice.

You are one of the lucky ones if your NC is clear. Believe me, you don't want to go there.

Thanks for the reply. It’s very helpful to know all about this. I think I know the way to bypass steps to an IO. But my first call was not planned to have a conversation with an IO, nevertheless I got carried away and asked to get transferred. Since it seemed too good to be true that I got through to the rep. or IO or whoever I am not sure that quickly, I called back again this time using the shortcut way to get me to an IO directly. The reason I called back again was not because I wanted to talk to an IO, nor I talked to one. I only wanted to check if it would bring me to the same introduction prior to talking with the person I spoke with eariler, and this shortcut number actually did brought me to the same introduction. So my guess that the person I talked to was an IO but possibly a newbie one. I called 800 no. selecting 1-2-2-6-1, SRC no., then 1-3-4. Is this the same way you use to get to an IO directly?